Know Your Options.

Surgery

In some cases, the doctor will suggest removing your prostate.

This procedure surgically removes the prostate from your body. However, if they remove your prostate, you will experience short-term and possibly permanent negative side effects. First, for several weeks or months you may have trouble holding your urine. This is called incontinence. For some men this problem will not go away. Second, you may lose your ability to have an erection. Often, important connections to your penis need to be cut during the removal of your prostate, especially if your tumor surrounds those connections. There are new surgical techniques that can avoid cutting those connections to the penis. Depending on the size and location of the tumor, this may or may not be an option. The loss of erection is temporary for some men and permanent for others. Be sure to choose a surgeon who specializes in prostate cancer surgery.